'Fantasy as it ought to be written' George R.R. Martin The second volume in Robin Hobb's internationally bestselling Farseer Trilogy. Honesty is the bedrock for any relationship. But how can Fitz - royal bastard, trainee assassin, holder of secrets crucial to the security of the kingdom - bare his soul to his beloved Molly? Danger lies all around him - from the raiders savaging the coastal towns, and from within the court. The king has been struck down by a mystery illness and his eldest son, Verity, is bound up in the defence of the realm. When Verity leaves the court in search of the mythical Elderlings, Fitz finds himself friendless apart from his wolf, Nighteyes, and the king's strange, motley-clad fool, exposed to Prince Regal's malign ambitions. He will be asked to sacrifice everything - his heart, his hope, even his life - for the sake of the realm.

A governmental power known as Arahma keeps a tight rein over the planet Ryocelin. Horrific news surfaces from a small base south-west of the Arahmian city, forcing Lanni, a lowly soldier, to flee in panic. His flight soon brings him to the southern city called Gexa, the last remaining city not yet under Arahma's jurisdiction. Here Lanni meets Kor, the illusive leader of Gexa's rebel faction. An iron-willed determined man, he holds a careful suspicion of Lanni's sudden presence. Lanni and Kor are bound in a quest to find Cyek, a mysterious soldier who once fought for Arahma. He is in search of himself to fill the gaps in his memory. Kor offers a handsome proposal to aid Cyek in his search if he in turn helps them. But all is not so simple for Cyek...The exciting journey that unravels leads Lanni and Kor to many others who become tied to a quest that will bring them all face to face with fear, tragedy and bloodshed.

The first issue of the classic pulp magazine Astounding Stories of Super-Science (later renamed Astounding Science Fiction, and currently being published as Analog Science Fiction) presents a mix of science fiction adventure stories by top writers of the day. Included are "Phantoms of Reality," by Ray Cummings; "The Beetle Horde," by Victor Rousseau; "Tank," by Murray Leinster; "The Cave of Horror," by Captain S.P. Meek; and many others.

They travelled into the unknown and left themselves behind . . .

Professor Arton Daghdev has always wanted to study alien life in person. But when his political activism sees him exiled to the planet Kiln, condemned to work under an unfamiliar sky until he dies, his idealistic wish becomes a terrible reality.

Kiln boasts a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem. Its monstrous alien life means Arton will risk death on a daily basis – if the camp’s oppressive regime doesn’t kill him first. But, if he survives, Kiln’s lost civilization holds a wondrous, terrible secret. It will redefine life and intelligence as he knows it – and might just set him free.

"An alternately charming and horrifying exploration of what it means to be human and how far we'll go in pursuit of personal and societal 'perfection.' Dayton's newest is imagination at its best and most terrifying. I devoured this book." --Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken

For fans of television shows Black Mirror and Westworld, this compelling, mind-bending novel is a twisted look into the future, exploring how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimen and what it means to be human at all.

Set in our world, spanning the near to distant futures, Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a novel made up of six interconnected stories that ask how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimens, and how hard that will push the definition of "human."

This extraordinary work explores the amazing possibilities of genetic manipulation and life extension, as well as the ethical quandaries that will arise with these advances. The results range from the heavenly to the monstrous. Deeply thoughtful, poignant, horrifying, and action-packed, Arwen Elys Dayton's Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is groundbreaking in both form and substance.

"A deep and suddenly necessary exploration of the beautiful and terrible futures we face. Every story leaves you desperate for more. Somehow, the further from today Dayton travels, the more real it becomes." --Hank Green, author of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

"Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a remarkable book, visionary and very hard to put down. The characters live in compelling, personal stories that have relevance to the future of the human race itself." -- Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of The Dark Between the Stars

"A work of unforgettable vision and imagination. This book is everything I love about science fiction." --Jay Kristoff, New York Times bestselling coauthor of the Illuminae Files

"Haunting, challenging and provocative--this is an extraordinary book. I can't stop thinking about it." --Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling coauthor of the Illuminae Files

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction

Enter a whole new world, in this thrilling debut novel set entirely within a beehive.

Born into the lowest class of her society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, only fit to clean her orchard hive. Living to accept, obey and serve, she is prepared to sacrifice everything for her beloved holy mother, the Queen.

But Flora is not like other bees. Despite her ugliness she has talents that are not typical of her kin. While mutant bees are usually instantly destroyed, Flora is removed from sanitation duty and is allowed to feed the newborns, before becoming a forager, collecting pollen on the wing. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers secrets both sublime and ominous.

But enemies are everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses who jealously guard the Hive Mind. And when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all her instinct to serve is overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce love that will lead to the unthinkable …

Laline Paull’s chilling yet ultimately triumphant novel creates a luminous world both alien and uncannily familiar. Thrilling and imaginative, The Bees is the story of a heroine who, in the face of an increasingly desperate struggle for survival, changes her destiny and her world.

Five murders on an untamed world. Two fugitives on the run. The hunt is on. When celebrated Omicron detective Ferrix Vaughn is called in to investigate a deadly breach on Hesperidia, a protected planet full of indigenous wildlife, he doesn't know what to expect. The place used to be a tourist attraction, but the safari tours were discontinued long ago due to rampant poaching. Only a handful of researchers live there now, including Jan Corbija, the disfigured young woman who reported the breach. The deeper Vaughn digs, the more the evidence seems to point to a recent raid on a biotech facility in a nearby system. Whatever was stolen from there, it's attracted the attention of major political players in a time of war across the colonies. Vaughn suspects the secret is on Hesperidia, in the hands of the two fugitives who fled the murder scene. If he wants to get to them first, he's going to need Jan's help. Her Alien Safari tour will have to reopen for this final excursion. But to survive it, they'll both need to face their demons, for a predator far deadlier than man roams the wilds of Hesperidia. And this is its killing season. This way for the ride of your life.

Mr Weetman makes cereal, and lots of it. He likes to make money, and pots of it! During one memorable trip home, his private plane has a terrifying encounter with a UFO. Upon landing, Mr Weetman finds more than he bargained for, as he discovers a number of unexplained items in his suitcase. He decides to hide them in cereal boxes for his next big promotion. They appear to be robots, but are they really toys? William is desperate to get his hands on one, but so is every other school child in the country. Can he find one in time, before everyone realises that they are actually extra-terrestrials? Discover what happens on William's thrilling adventure...it's out of this world!

'A contemporary masterpiece' Guardian THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ALEX GARLAND (EX MACHINA) AND STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border - an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness. The Southern Reach, a secretive government agency, has sent eleven expeditions to investigate Area X. One has ended in mass suicide, another in a hail of gunfire, the eleventh in a fatal cancer epidemic. Now four women embark on the twelfth expedition into the unknown.

The epic that began with the HUGO and NEBULA Award-winning classic DUNE -- now a major motion picture from the director of Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival -- continues ...

More than three thousand years have passed since the first events recorded in DUNE. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune.

He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species.

But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall ...

The third book in the The Night's Dawn trilogy, The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton is an epic conclusion to dramatic and compelling series.

The Confederation is verging on collapse, unable to prevent the enemy from sweeping through the galaxy. And Earth’s defences have finally been penetrated, its giant domed cities destroyed one by one. As time runs out for civilisation, those who fight on must join forces and form new alliances – but an enemy’s enemy isn’t always a friend.

The war is desperate on all fronts, with battles fought on a scale unseen by humankind for six centuries. There are rumours that an ancient space-faring race faced this same threat to its existence –surviving with the help of the Sleeping God. If this mysterious and powerful entity truly exists, we may be able to find it. And if it really can avert the ultimate catastrophe, we may at last find hope. Joshua Clavert and Syrinx now fly their starships on a mission to find the Sleeping God - which an alien race believes holds the key to finally overthrowing the possessed.

Set in the early 22nd century, MK121 is a tale of political intrigue, corruption, human relationships and action of a kind usually reserved for the realms of science fantasy, but set against a believable background based on past, current and potential future developments. Drake Featherstone is the captain of a space cruiser, the MK121, which is part of the Earth's protection arm, Space Force. Tasked with what initially appears to be a rescue of personnel from an Earth outpost, he and his crew soon discover that all is not what they expected. Meantime, the bulk of the Space Force fleet has been despatched to reclaim an Earth protectorate planet from an aggressive alien empire leaving Earth defenceless and potentially at the mercy of politically motivated forces. Interlaced in the story is the relationship between Featherstone and his first officer, Rachenda Lindberg. Having rescued the beleaguered personnel from the damaged outpost, matters twist and turn until the full truth of why the mission was necessary emerges and the consequences of the despatch of the fleet become obvious. The climax to the story is both dramatic and unexpected.

The year is 2349. Pirate Ben Long and crew face trouble. Chased by the Space Navy, they fall through a black hole. Their ship Lion survives, piloted by Sugar, Ben's android, but in a new dimension adventures crowd them. They rescue Terri, an alien warrior in an escape pod and go to her planet Xenaria. Bugs have taken control of it. With Terri driven by revenge, she, Ben, Sugar and Ahmad, Lion's First Lieutenant, land to fight. Captured by bugs, they escape, steal an enemy ship and head back to Lion only to find her hijacked. When they recover the ship, Sugar and Terri duel over Ben. Then it's on to a meeting with bugs - and an unforeseeable proposal. More surprises follow -

The Second Great Dune Trilogy contains God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapter House Dune, and concludes the Dune Chronicles, one of the most influential SF series ever written.

Frank Herbert's evocative, epic tales are set on the desert planet Arrakis, the focus for a complex political and military struggle with galaxy-wide repercussions.

More than three thousand years have passed since the first events recorded in Dune. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune. He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species. But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall...

The characters that populate Yuri Herrera's first collection of stories inhabit imagined futures that reveal the strangeness and instability of the present. Drawing on science fiction, noir, and the philosophical parables of Borges's Fictions and Calvino's Cosmicomics, these very short stories signal a new dimension in the work of this significant writer. In Ten Planets, objects can be sentient and might rebel against the unhappy human family to which they are attached. A detective of sorts finds clues to buried secrets by studying the noses of his clients, which he insists are covert maps. A meagre bacterium in a human intestine gains consciousness when a psychotropic drug is ingested. Monsters and aliens abound, but in the fiction of Herrera, knowing who is the monster and who the alien is a tricky proposition. This collection of stories, with a breadth that ranges from philosophical flights of fancy to the gritty detective story, leaves us with a sense of awe at our world and the worlds beyond our ken, while Herrera continues to develop his exploration of the mutability of borders, the wounds and legacy of colonial violence, and a deep love of storytelling in all its forms.

The new leaders of America and Russia are deeply suspicious of each other. A bomb goes off in a holy city. International tension mounts. and World War Three breaks out. As destruction rains down on the Earth, scientists come up with a plan to save something of the human race before the world is destroyed for ever by nuclear war. Two individuals, Adam and Eve, are chosen to go into suspended animation for nearly two hundred years. Eventually they wake up and find a small group of humans still alive. they try to teach these humans how best to survive the hostile environment on this new and dangerous Earth. Using their special skills, Adam and Eve win a battle with an alien race of androids, but they don't live for ever. What will happen to the remaining humans without their help? Is there any hope for the future of the Earth? The author gives us a fascinating glimpse of the future a century, a millennium, several millennia from now. But this colourful book is as much for those who love an exciting adventure story as for fans of science fiction.

This collection of short stories, set entirely in the future, takes in everything from robot politicians to time travelling students and plenty of creatures that I would be unable to describe fully in this small space, some of them human. Some stories are allegorical, some are political whilst others are simply quick yarns. The stories here also fit a particular time line of events; so whilst you don't need to read all of the stories in order to understand each individual story, most of the tales are all interconnected by a certain history of events. The influence of the Venusian War, the advancement of robot spies and the importance of the Sphere should hopefully become clear in a few hours!